The present invention relates generally to video games and in particular to multiplayer online video games that allow multiple persons to play a game via a network.
The advent of the Internet has not only revolutionized global communications, but it has also revolutionized the way that people play video games. Video games have evolved to take advantage of the nearly instantaneous global communications provided by the Internet in order to provide rich multiplayer online gaming experiences where players from all over the world compete and/or interact with one another. Players experience a synchronized game environment where they can play the same game at the same time regardless of their individual geographic locations. Some online multiplayer games can support from hundreds to thousands of concurrent users playing the same game at the same time.
The global internetwork of networks referred to as the Internet is used here as an example of a network that connects multiple player client systems. Other networks might be used, or variations of the Internet (an extranet, intranet, WAN, metro-network, etc.) might be used, so it should be understood that unless otherwise indicated, the descriptions here are not limited to networking over the Internet.
A typical setup involves one or more game servers coupled to multiple player client systems over a network. Players may interact as part of an online multiplayer game using their clients that might be implemented using one or more of a number of client-side platforms, such as a personal computer (PC) or a video game console such as the Microsoft XBox 360, the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) and the Nintendo Wii. The game server(s) for multiplayer online games generally register the actions of each individual player as indications of those actions are received from the player system and then update the shared gaming environment representing the game play accordingly and convey such information to the player systems. The network allows game players to be widely distributed over a large geographic area and remote from the game servers.
Typically, the player client has software (or uses software not specific to the game) and the game servers have software and collectively the programs running in those locations have state. The state of the various programs may define what is happening in the game environment and what can happen next. For example, the game environment might be a race track and the state of the game might be represented by data stored at a game server and that state might dictate that one red car is ahead of one blue car, etc. The player client software (game-specific or otherwise) should then have instructions on how to interpret that state and provide appropriate displays, processing, etc. for the player consistent with that state.
A number of different game genres have been adapted to the online multiplayer game format including role playing games, simulations and action games. Role playing games are generally based in a persistent virtual fantasy world and players assume the role of a character that takes part in a number of quests or challenges either in conjunction with or in competition with other players. Simulation type games provide a persistent virtual world in which characters interact with one another and with the virtual game world. Simulation-type games may also provide players with a number of tasks to be completed.
With the increasing demands of customers for ever richer gaming experiences, advances in online video games are needed.